


Pick a Star, Any Star

by Astroskylark



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-05
Updated: 2011-05-05
Packaged: 2017-10-19 01:06:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/195198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astroskylark/pseuds/Astroskylark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you pick a star, any star, and sacrifice a thousand others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pick a Star, Any Star

The last time they’d called me to Gallifrey it had been to make a choice. “I’d never have gone if I had known.”

They’d made me choose between Earth and Gallifrey. “They thought they’d known my answer before I’d given it.”

There hadn’t been any way to lie. “I’d wanted to say Gallifrey, and I did say Gallifrey. I told them I’d always choose Gallifrey, for all my lives.”

The Daleks knew I favored Earth. They told the Time Lords they would admit defeat if only I’d choose Gallifrey over Earth. “It would have ended the War.”

It wasn’t enough to say he chose Gallifrey. He’d had to believe it. “The Time Lords had hurt me too much to go back. Gallifrey wasn’t my home anymore, not after what they did in the War. They knew.”

They took the War to Earth. “I watched every human die. I knew their names, I knew their faces. I watched every human die alongside the Time Lords, and knew I could have prevented it if I’d only been able to choose Gallifrey.”

Too much had changed... “When I was a child, I knew about the Last Great Time War. I knew that my people would stop at nothing to win, that they’d tear about the universe to survive. Everyone could die, and it wouldn’t matter to them.”

“I’d promised myself to protect just one place. I thought it would make it better if I could choose one system, and protect them forever, never let anyone or anything hurt them. I thought I could protect them from time.”

“I looked up at the sky, all alone, at night, and said to myself, “Pick a star, any star.” I chose yours.” And it wasn’t enough.

“I had to end it. The Time Lords had become something else, and I couldn’t let them continue. They’d rip apart all the universes, kill everything alive, including themselves.”

“That’s what made it bearable, I think. The fact that they’d have died anyway, no matter what I did. It would have been funny...”

“But they were my people! I loved them once. And I killed them, because I was the only one who could save them from themselves.”

“You can’t save everyone. Sometimes you pick a star, any star, and you’re already too late. Sometimes you pick a star, any star, and you sacrifice a thousand other suns. Sometimes everyone dies.”


End file.
